Sean Wakely

President
Thomson Arts & Sciences
Belmont, California

COLLEGE TEXTBOOKS:
Contributing to Student Success
Students are Increasingly Unprepared
and Have Diverse Learning Needs

55% of college instructors say entering

freshmen not ready for college level courses

Half of students who enter college drop out

Only 54% who remain in college graduate in

4-6 years
Publishers are Responding
to Help Meet These Needs

Providing broader range of learning materials

from which faculty can choose
Low-cost editions, e-books, books by the
chapter, and custom editions
Complete teaching and learning solutions
Many Price Options

„Introductory Psychology: 216 titles

$23.50 to $120.50
„Introductory Algebra: 234 titles –
$40.75 to $126.50
„Introductory Biology: 116 titles
$22.00 to $138.50
Technology as
Teaching and Learning Tools
Online practice exams
Tutoring
Video clips
Interactive websites
Document resource centers
PowerPoint slides

79% of instructors say less-prepared students would do

better using these supplemental materials
Faculty Turn to
Supplemental Materials
Make students
57% 15%
more successful

Save students
65% 10%
time Agree
Not sure
Help retain Disagree
65% 13%
students

Enhance most
77% 8%
students' learning

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Percent of faculty

Source: im+m Technical Brief

New Learning Materials
Help Meet Student Needs
They improve student achievement
Jackson State
„ Biology instructor reports use of ThomsonNOW
increased exam score average from 64 to 76, a
19% improvement

University of Alabama
„ The percentage of students receiving an A, B or C
increased from 40.6 to 76.2 using MyMathLab
Impact on Student Success
Choice and Value
Paperback, looseleaf
Selections from premium packages to the
book alone
ebook at 50% savings
Purchase by-the-chapter
Technology solutions
Custom
Thank you

Sean Wakely
President
Thomson Arts & Sciences
 Remarks before the
Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance

By Sean W. Wakely, President, Thomson Arts & Sciences, Belmont CA

Thomson Learning

March 5, 2007
[Slide 1]
My name is Sean Wakely, and I am president of Thomson Arts & Sciences, a division of
Thomson Learning that publishes educational materials for the higher education market
in the areas of social sciences, humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences. Our office
is located in Belmont, CA.

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to discuss with you today the many ways in
which college publishers are working to provide affordable access to learning materials
for all students, regardless of ability and level of preparation; to support a wide variety of
excellent teaching strategies; and to ensure choice and value at every stage of the
decision-making process.

[Slide 2]
One area that seems to generate agreement among faculty is that today’s students are
increasingly under prepared for college work, particularly at the freshman/sophomore
level. However, it might be that study skills are not simply weaker than in the past, but
that students may be differently prepared—they are more visually oriented, expect to be
entertained while learning, and are more inclined to absorb information in smaller
chunks. For example, faculty members often express to me the struggles they have
ensuring students have completed reading assignments before coming to class. As a
result, they often tend to gravitate to the more colorful and visually appealing printed
products that feature multimedia supplements and extensions for the introductory courses
in order to pique students’ interest in the material. Yet, even with “spicing up” the
courses and the availability of extensive remedial resources on many campuses, over
50% of students entering college drop out at some point and of those who remain, only
about half graduate within four – six years.

[Slide 3]
To help faculty address the student retention challenges they face, publishers offer a wide
variety of materials aimed at a diversity of learners. For those instructors who believe
their students learn better from comprehensive and colorful texts with extensive learning
support packages, we offer premium solutions. It is worth noting that for many years
Thomson Arts & Sciences and other publishers have offered lower cost, less colorful
alternatives for those instructors who would trade less color and robust support packages
for a lower price. As a matter of fact, our Wadsworth division was founded fifty years
ago specifically to serve the emerging needs of California students, piloting low-cost
paperback textbooks as the first main offerings.
For several years now, Thomson Arts & Sciences has offered titles through our
“Advantage Program” which makes available a wide selection of lower cost options for
faculty to adopt for their classes. In addition to low-cost options for major course areas,
all publishers make available digital versions of their books at deep discounts. Most
publishers also work with faculty to create custom versions that allow instructors to drop
chapters they do not cover in order to lower the price to students.

[Slide 4]
I am currently passing around examples that illustrate some of these options: From our
history publishing program, you will see two versions of our textbook Liberty, Power and
Equality. The hardcover edition includes an extensive number of components listed on
the back cover. The paperback version, labeled “Thomson Advantage” in yellow at the
top of the front cover, is designed to serve the needs of faculty who are more specifically
concerned about price and who also have the time and the skill to supply all of their own
additional teaching tools – it nets for $22.25, less than one-third the price of the premium
product.

You will also see two versions of our best-selling introduction to psychology text,
Psychology Themes & Variations, by Wayne Weiten. The larger book is the standard
version used at colleges and universities across the country while the slimmer volume is
customized to the exacting academic needs of the United States Military Academy at
West Point.

As I mentioned earlier, today’s college students enter university with different skill sets
and expectations for what the learning experience should be. To help faculty keep pace
and remain effective and relevant, publishers offer an increasingly digital set of
supplements that extend beyond or, in some cases even replace, the basic textbook.
While not every faculty member may need or assign all of these supplements, enough
instructors require enough of these items that to remain competitive every publisher must
make a full array available.

[Slide 5]
As president of my publishing group, I can tell you that it takes a great amount of
resources to create the necessary teaching and learning aids required by our customers,
including online practice exams, homework systems, online or live tutoring, video
segments, audio clips, 3-D graphics, interactive Web sites, document resource centers,
online courses, and multimedia PowerPoint presentations to name a few.

[Slide 6]
An overwhelming number of college faculty members, particularly at the introductory
level, report that such supplemental materials help them more effectively teach and their
students better learn the material.
[Slide 7]
For example, faculty in the biology department at Jackson State University in Mississippi
report that use of our ThomsonNow for Biology homework assignment and grading
system has helped increase exam scores by over 19%; and at the University of Alabama
the use of a publisher-created math homework system increased student success from
41% to 76%.

[Slide 8]
In fact, we have tracked the positive impact of technology in college classes at many
institutions. You can see on this slide the dramatic improvement in student success in
beginning math classes taught at two- and four-year colleges and universities across the
country. It is this type of tangible academic assistance for which students pay when they
purchase their course materials.

[Slide 9]
The ever-expanding universe of choices for instructors and students poses its own
problems, of course: It is a growing challenge to ensure everyone knows and understands
the breadth of options publishers make available. While a typical sales representative and
an instructor used to simply page through a book during informal office calls, today’s
selling process involves extensive walk-through demonstrations, multimedia
presentations, faculty in-service trainings, workshops, and focus groups. And, since more
and more instructors access product information online, we ensure that our wide range of
choices is conspicuously represented and explained in detail on our faculty Web sites, as
represented by the graphic shown here which appears on the Thomson Web site.

[Slide 10]
Thomson Learning is also proud to be the only publisher to provide students with
maximum choice and value through our iChapters.com eCommerce Web site which
offers a variety of formats and prices for our products—all in one convenient eCommerce
storefront. Students can choose among print textbooks, greatly discounted digital
versions of the entire book, and the option to purchase by the chapter in digital format.
The site also features digital and print study tools designed to drive student success
whatever the academic level or learning style.

[Slide 11]
To reiterate, we at Thomson Learning provide world-class teaching and learning
solutions in a wide variety of ways that deliver value and can save students money.
These include:
- format choices like paperback and looseleaf
- packaging choices that range from premium selections that include a multitude of
teaching and learning tools to the low-cost book alone
- ebooks at 50% savings
- the ability for students to purchase by the chapter in digital format
- cutting-edge technology solutions like ThomsonNOW and Aplia
- and content customized by faculty so students only pay for what they will use in
the course
[Slide 12]
In closing, I would like to thank you for allowing me the opportunity to briefly explain
some of the ways we partner with instructors and students to develop and distribute a
variety of learning solutions that enhance teaching and learning for all. The United States
is a well-respected leader among nations in the area of higher education and as a college
publisher I am proud to be an important contributor to the educational enterprise. We
take our mission and responsibility very seriously: to work closely with faculty and
students to create the world’s best educational materials, while maximizing choice and
value to address every teaching and learning need.

Thank you.